Chicago lawyers win 2012 Lincoln Award Writing Contest

Chicago lawyers Alexandra Lee Newman and Yelena Shagall won first place in the 2012 Lincoln Award Legal Writing Contest, sponsored by and open to members of the ISBA Young Lawyers Division. Their article "The 'Cat's Paw' Theory of Employer Liability in the Illinois Federal Courts after Staub v. Proctor Hospital," will appear in the February Illinois Bar Journal.

Second place winner was Nicholas P. Cholis of Chicago, who wrote "After Ervin: How Combined Actions Will Impact Wage and Hour Class Litigation in Illinois." Third place went to Anne M. Skrodzki of Burr Ridge for "Voluntary Dismissal in Multi-Count Complaints:  Application of the Hudson Decision Remains Difficult for Courts and Practitioners."

The first place winners each received $1,000 (splitting the first place prize of $2,000). The second place prize is $1,000 and the third place winner won $500. Plaques will be presented to all four winners at the ISBA Annual Meeting in June.

Twenty-eight manuscripts were submitted in the 2012 contest. The contest judges were Justice Mary W. McDade, Peoria, of the Illinois Appellate Court, Third District; Cook County Judge Mary R. Minella; Professor A. Bryan Endres, Urbana, who teaches agricultural law at the University of Illinois; Brent D. Holmes, a Mattoon lawyer and former IBJ editor-in-chief; and past Lincoln Award winner Travis J. Ketterman, Geneva.